Aiden Oiring knocks down Chiefs forward Smyth Rebman during last year's meeting between the Raiders and Chiefs in October. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

U.S. Road Swing begins

Weekend Preview: Raiders start U.S. road swing in Spokane and Tri-City

Nov 7, 2025 | 1:42 PM

Already 14 games into the season, the Prince Albert Raiders have managed to keep their undefeated in regulation record after a road win Wednesday night in Lethbridge, but now the test begins to see just how tough this Raiders squad is. The Raiders will begin their six game U.S. road swing Friday night against the Spokane Chiefs, followed up by a battle with the Tri-City Americans on Saturday.

The Raiders boast a record of 11-0-3 (W-L-OTL), one of only two records in the CHL without a regulation loss (the other being the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs at 13-0-4), and they’re coming off a two game winning streak with a 2-1 win over Lethbridge, and a 6-4 win at home over Moose Jaw.

Friday vs. Spokane

As for the Chiefs, they’re coming into the game on a two game losing skid with an 8-2 loss at home to the Kamloops Blazers on Tuesday, and a 7-2 loss on Saturday to the Everett Silvertips. Their last win was over the visiting Saskatoon Blades in overtime 2-1.

On the season, Spokane sits eighth in the Western Conference with a record of 8-8-0. The game will see the first, and only, battle of the year between the Sarkenov brothers with Alisher of the Raiders meeting his older brother Assanali.

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With the special teams battle, the Raiders powerplay was stopped on their only powerplay opportunity of the game Wednesday night, but still sit third in the league at 29.7% on the year. On the penalty kill, the Raiders also only had to kill one against Lethbridge, but that was enough to bring them up to third in the league at 85.4%.

As for Spokane, the Chiefs powerplay has not performed this year with only 6 goals on 64 attempts, good for a league worst 9.4%, and behind the next team by almost 4%. As for the penalty kill, the Chiefs are 13th in the league at 76.5%.

On to players to watch, and Brayden Dube is now tied for the team lead in scoring for the Raiders with 6G-10A-16P. The man he’s tied with is Riley Boychuk who had his first pointless game of the season, but still has 2G-14A-16P on the year. Aiden Oiring rounds out the top three in Raiders scoring with 6G-9A-15P.

With Boychuk’s streak coming to an end at 13 games, the longest streak for the Raiders is now a three way tie at only two games. Alisher Sarkenov has 0G-2A, Hubert Clarke has 0G-2A, and Prince Albert local Connor Howe has 1G-1A in those two games.

As for the Chiefs, it’s 2023’s third overall pick Preston Mathis leading the scoring with 6G-8A-14P to start the year. Chase Harrington sits second with 6G-5A-11P, and Coco Armstrong is third with 5G-5A-10P.

As of late, Will McIsaac has been the hot hand for the Chiefs with 0G-3A in his last three games. After that, both Chase Harrington and Mathis Preston have 2G-1A in their last two games.

Finally on to the goaltending matchup, and Michal Orsulak has only allowed four goals in his last three games between the pipes for the Raiders. He comes in with a record of 5-0-2 with a league leading two shutouts and a 0.919 save percentage, tied for third in the league. Dimitri Fortin is right behind him with a 5-0-1 record and one shutout, as well as a 0.890 save percentage.

The Chiefs goaltending tandem consists of Carter Esler and Linus Vieillard. In ten games, Esler has a record of 5-5-0 along with a league leading two shutouts, and a 0.905 save percentage. Vieillard has made eight appearances this year, boasting a 3-3-0 record and a 0.861 save percentage.

Saturday vs. Tri-City

On to Saturday where the Raiders will travel to Kennewick to take on the Tri-City Americans, they sit 11th in the Western Conference with a record of 6-7-1.

Going into the weekend, the Americans host the Vancouver Giants on Friday where they will try to break a three game losing streak, including two straight losses in overtime to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

The Americans powerplay so far this year sits at an even 18%, good for the 16th spot in the league. On the penalty kill, they sit last in the league at 63.6%, but also have scored three shorthanded goals this year.

Jake Gudelji has the team lead in points at 2G-11A-13P, followed up by Dale Connor at 5G-5A-10P, and Savin Virk sits third with 4G-5A-9P.

Finally in goal, the Americans have trusted 17-year-old rookie Xavier Wendt with 10 of the team’s 14 starts. Wendt is also tied for third in the league with a 0.919 save percentage, but his record sits at 5-4-0. Backing him up has been Ryan Grout with a 1-3-1 record in six games, and a 0.866 save percentage.

The Raiders will take on the Spokane Chiefs Friday night at 9:00 p.m. Saskatchewan time, the pregame show will begin at 8:30 p.m. on 900 CKBI.

On Saturday, the Raiders vs. Americans broadcast will be moved to 101.5 Beach Radio FM, pregame show at 7:30 p.m., puck drop at 8:00 p.m.